Security has been a concern for people over the centuries. As early as four thousand years ago, ancient Egyptians used wooden pin-tumbler type locks to secure their doors. Even today, practically everyone who lives in a residential dwelling and/or operates a motor vehicle is concerned with the security of their person and property. The residential dweller will often lock any doors providing access into the house while away from his unoccupied home or during sleep hours. A motorist typically locks the doors on his vehicle when leaving it unattended in an unsecured place. Sometimes a problem arises when the doors on either a home or on a motor vehicle can be locked without using a key. Unfortunately, these types of locking doors can potentially lock a person out of his own home or vehicle if that person is not presently carrying the appropriate key. For example, this may occur when the motorist manually manipulates the locks on his car doors into the locked state then inadvertently closes the locked doors while leaving his keys in the ignition or passenger compartment.
Locking oneself out of his own home or motor vehicle is often quite frustrating, extremely inconvenient, time consuming and costly. One option of gaining entry into a locked home or motor vehicle is to break a window to provide access thereinto. Another option would be to call a locksmith, if a telephone is readily available, so that entry into the locked house or motor vehicle can be gained without incurring costly damage. Nonetheless, the costs attendant to persons who have inadvertently locked themselves out of their homes and vehicles is surprisingly large. Figures reported by the American Automobile Association indicate that it alone spent in excess of $400 million during 1992 to assist motorists who had locked themselves out of their own motor vehicles. This figure does not include what was spent by other automobile clubs, police, and private citizens and further relates only to automobile entry, not homes or businesses.
To resolve this long standing problem of locking oneself out of his/her motor vehicle, the most cautious motorist sometimes carries a spare door key in a wallet or purse. Occasionally, the motorist will place a door key in a metal or plastic container that has a magnet which can secure the container to any metal portion of the motor vehicle. However, while the motor vehicle is moving, any jarring force or vibration could cause this container to fall off of the vehicle. Another method of addressing the problem of locking oneself out of his own vehicle is by using a keypad whereby the motorist enters an appropriate code to electronically release the locks. However, such a method is very costly and usually requires the manufacturer to install this device at the factory while the vehicle is being assembled.
To prevent locking oneself out of his home, the homeowner might hide a spare key somewhere around the exterior of the home. Sometimes, the homeowner simply forgets where this spare key is hidden. On the other hand, it is possible that a burglar could discover the whereabouts of this key to gain access into a locked home. Hiding a key in a hollow plastic rock is a well-known technique, which will not often fool a burglar.
Therefore, a long felt need exists to provide a convenient and inexpensive way for a person who has locked himself out of his home or vehicle to gain access thereto. The most convenient and simplest way of satisfying this need is to provide a spare key to the person locked out of his home or motor vehicle. It would be advantageous if this key be can secured into a lock box which is fixably mounted to the home or vehicle in order to prevent theft of the lock box apparatus and key. It would be further advantageous that such a lock box apparatus be sufficiently small so that it could be hidden from view of the general public. The present invention is directed to such a lock box.